Rock Hill, S.C. (August 16, 2014) -- Matthew Baranoski (Perkasie, Pa./Custom Velo) and Missy Erickson (San Pedro, Calif./Momentum Coaching Group) continued their dominance of the sprint events Saturday night at the 2014 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships in Rock Hill, S.C. Baranoski captured his third title of the week while Erickson notched her second title to go along with a bronze medal in the time trial.

Proving to be the man to beat in the sprint events, Baranoski has successfully defended three titles during the week. Along with Saturday's keirin win, he was also victorious in the time trial and sprint event. Leading out the final lap of the keirin final, Baranoski showed his superior speed and strength in pulling away for an easy win.

"The keirin all day today was kind of messed up, there was a lot of crashes, a lot of sketchy stuff going on, so by the time we got to the final I think everyone was 'Alright, let's get through this nice and clean,'", said Baranoski. "The final in the keirin was just a fast ride all out. There was a lot of good guys in there with Aaron Kacala, Dave Espinoza, Nate Koch. I knew it was going to be a barn burner from the start and it proved to be that way too, so I was happy. I knew I definitely wanted to be going with a lap to go and kind of toward the front, so taking the front was fine with me."

Missy Erickson (r) edges Tela Crane in the keirin final at the 2014 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships. (photo by Weldon Weaver)

The battle for the women's keirin title proved to be much closer as Erickson had to fend off a late charge from defending champion Tela Crane (Sammamish, Wash./Broadmark Capital) to triumph.

"My main objective was to get out of them (keirins) safely, number one, with Pan Ams coming up in just a couple of weeks," Erickson said. "But I also wanted to take the initiative and ride from the front and try to stay out of trouble. The second ride, the strongest of the strong girls were in there. I took the motor right from the front and just rode it off the front the whole rest of the way. I saw the girls getting stacked up going into one to go and then I was like 'Alright, it's time to hit it' and took it and Tela was creeping up on me there at the finish and I tipped my head as low as I could and drove it to the line and came away with the win."

Following Crane over the line to claim the bronze medal was Janelly Prieto (Hollywood, Fla./Pink Siren Sports).

Two-time Olympian Bobby Lea(Mertztown, Pa./Custom Velo) racked up his fourth national title of the week as he teamed with Jackie Simes (Alburtis, Pa./Custom Velo) for a successful defense of the duo's Madison title. The pair won the 200-lap event with a point total of 41. The silver medal went to Jacob Duehring (Irvine, Calif./Horizon Organic-Einstein Bros Cycling) and Adrian Hegyvary (Asheville, N.C./UnitedHealthcare) with 29 points, while Zachary Kovalcik (Portland, Ore./Black Lodge Cycling) won the final sprint of the event to take the bronze medal along with his partner Zack Allison (Fort Collins, Colo.). They finished with 12 points.

The six-day event concludes on Sunday morning with finals in the scratch race and team sprint.